All of Puerto Rico: Much More than a March

Last week, a suburb of San Juan was flooded with more than 150,000 women and men from all walks of life who spoke out against Republican Governor Luis Fortuño's drastic plan to layoff nearly 25,000 workers and gut the island's social safety net. The turnout for "Todo Puerto Rico para Puerto Rico" or "All of Puerto Rico for Puerto Rico" was spectacular in spite of the Governor's threat to prosecute those who attended the event as "terrorists" under the Patriot Act.

Failing to suppress turnout, the Governor's administration did its best to minimize the event, officially stating that 15,000 people turned out while the media estimates were 150,000 and organizers estimated closer to 300,000. Governor Fortuño and his administration are clearly aware that it's one thing to have a problem contained at home; it's quite another thing to become a problem in the eyes of Congress and the Obama administration.

While President Obama's vision for the U.S. economy is anchored in creating good jobs, affordable healthcare, and increasing accountability in the private sector, Governor Fortuno is clinging desperately to George Bush's failed economic agenda. This agenda protected the private sector and the very wealthy at all costs, decreased government accountability, and basically stacked the deck against the poor and middle class. And here we are one recession, an American Recovery Investment Act and a TARP Act later working our way out of it.

If Governor Fortuno and Puerto Rico's Resident Commissioner, Congressman Pierluisi can keep the problem quarantined within Puerto Rico, they too will get a free pass on accountability for their lack of a clear plan to revive the U.S. territory's plummeting economy. They will continue to apply "survival of the fittest" economics to Puerto Rico with no need to account for how America's multi-billion dollar funding to the island is invested.

But why is Puerto Rico different from Michigan or California, or any of the states that have mounting job losses and stagnant wages?

First, working families in Puerto Rico have long struggled to find good jobs, afford a home, and send their children to college. If we don't address this crisis now, we are ensuring that the next generation of Puerto Ricans will continue the "brain drain" that has been occurring since the 1970's.

Second, Puerto Rico is racing toward a depression. Its unemployment rate is currently the level of Michigan, but with an anticipated 17,000 new public sector job losses by November 6, the unemployment rate could easily reach that of New Orleans post-hurricane Katrina.

Third, where are the jobs? To date, Puerto Rico has received $2.9 billion in funds from the American Recovery and Reinvestment act and according to federal reporting, has created only 126 jobs. Other states in crisis have already generated thousands of new jobs in green sectors, sustainable energy, information technology, and infrastructure.

Fourth, we've seen this picture before. Governor Fortuno's track record on jobs has already proven that imitating Bush's economic policy is the fastest route to an economic doomsday. Puerto Rico has lost roughly 50,000 jobs in the private market since he took office less than one year ago. Cutting an additional 25,000 jobs in the public sector is only going to further threaten the island's economic recovery.

Last week's march proved beyond a doubt that Puerto Ricans believe in the future of Puerto Rico. What started as a march in protest to the impending firings of public sector workers has turned into a movement to hold Governor Fortuno accountable for solving this financial nightmare.

Puerto Ricans deserve so much more than a Governor whose only economic recovery plan is to fire the very people that are the heart and soul of its social safety net, and last week, they demanded it.

Comments

[David Southgate]

More than a week out from the protests in Puerto Rico and nothing has changed. The protests accomplished nothing other than letting the people let off steam and rightly air their indignation over the present administration's crass and blatant disrespect for its own people. The layoffs are just one example.

The article is quite inaccurate in its claim that Fortuño's administration threatened to persecute protesters under the US Patriot Act. And certainly there were no where near 100,000 people in attendance. Largely the protest was peaceful (to the protesters' credit), save the poor example of the yahoo university students, the same people who abuse police when the police tell them to not drink on the street... and then cry foul play.

This from someone who lives here.

[raphael from the barrio]

Dennis Rivera has signaled an important issue of Puerto Rico's ordeal; current governor is a Republican party member, has a neoliberal agenda like the one the american people defeated by electing Obama, and his party has institutionalized corruption (PNP governor Roselló 1992-2000) to a degree that more than 40 cabinet members of their previous administration are currently serving prison or have served in the past years.

The imminent corruption by appropriation of the federal stimulus funds by these professional criminals who are currently organized in so called "public-private entities", have the implicit complicity of non elected federal government officials like current FBI San Juan office, federal prosecutors and most of the federal district court judges who are unconditional to current Commonwealth government. This means Fortuño will pose no accountability to either the people who elected him, nor to the US government.

If hundreds of thousands march against their policies and they are labelled "terrorists", it is solely an attempt to smokescreen the government intention to profit their fiends on federal money directed to create jobs, not eliminate them.

The march paralized banking district in Puerto Rico and the largest shopping mall of the Caribbean called Plaza las Américas for one day, with a political message of opposition to the Fortuño agenda and the legislative leadership of his party.

Never before in the history of Puerto Rico has a government fallen to demise in the public opinion so fast and so furiously.

[winningticket]

If you love Puerto Rico, set it free.

[Kevin Mead]

I don't know which is more ridiculous: the 15,000 crowd estimate by one official or the 300,000 estimate by strike leaders. What did you do, split the bigger estimate in half?
Let's say there was 50,000. Although the turnout was less than expected, nobody was hurt, the police behaved and people aired grievances about layoffs that have caused great pain in thousands of households.
You took great pains to blast Fortuno and praise Obama but ignored the tremendous gains made by the local government in pushing parity for P.R. in the federal healthcare debate and the huge amount of ARRA money secured. Those gains will have a positive an impact on all who live in P.R.
It was a neat trick to link Fortuno to Bush (both are Republican) but you know national politics aren't the name of the game in P.R.. You blame Fortuno for private sector job losses under his watch, yet make no mention of the millions of jobs lost stateside during Obama's equally brief tenure. I like Obama and am confident he will play a big role in improving the U.S. economy and U.S. standing abroad. Let's hope Fortuno can do the same for P.R.
Why no mention the role your friend former Gov. Anibal Acevedo Vila played in the island's economic meltdown? One thing is clear, Fortuno's potential political suicide marks him as a welcome break from the get re-elected at any cost strategies of his predecessor.

[nkarahal]

I live here, and have to tell you that your information is inaccurate. So is the crowd estimate. It did not surpass 100,000, and some of the participants vandalized the banking zone, set fires to tires, and hooded young people who described themselves as university students walked onto the Luis A. Ferre expressway (major artery leaving San Juan) and sat down.

1. The Hato Rey area where the various marches congregated was is NOT a suburb of San Juan. It has been a part of San Juan for many decades.

2. Gov. Fortuno did NOT threaten to prosecute those attending... that warning was given to the head of the local Teamsters union who publicly threatened to shut down the Island's ports and airports so that "nothing would move... not gasoline, not milk, nothing."

3. Puerto Rico is not "racing towards a depression" as you state. It has been in recession since early 2006 due to fiscal mismanagement by the local Commonwealth government.

4. With various groups opposing ANY kind of private-sector job-creation, the Commonwealth government is the largest employer on the Island: 1 government worker for every 16 residents! Compare that with any other jurisdiction worldwide.

5. Where were you and these protesters when 30,000 PRIVATE-sector jobs were lost as the result of pushing the US Navy to close Roosevelt Roads... Those 30,000 don't count?

Look, your report is totally biased. Get the facts and come back.

[Kevin Mead]

You are also completely distorting the "terrorism" threat. Officials said that striking truck drivers who block ports could face federal anti-terrorism laws. Clearly, Puerto Rico would not have the power to prosecute such crimes. The "terrorism" tag likely was an intimidation tactic, but no mention was made calling demonstrators terrorists.
In any case, truckers did not make good on their threats to shut down commerce and gas stations, much to the relief of the millions of Puerto Ricans who went to work and school during the national strike.
I am not defending the Fortuno administration, just trying to plug some holes in your otherwise well-written blog.